"Back to Bach" - The Jerusalem Baroque Orchestra welcomes audiences back to the concert hall with works of J.S.Bach and Arcangelo Corelli

Idit Shemer (Yoel Levy)

 In this past year, as of March 2020, with the outbreak of the Covid--19 virus in Israel, the Jerusalem Baroque Orchestra has certainly not been somewhere “below the radar”. JBO audiences have enjoyed a number of on-line concerts live-streamed from various attractive venues. But, when the orchestra members took to the stage of the Jerusalem YMCA auditorium on March 17th 2021, the many people attending the JBO’s return to live performance could not contain their excitement, welcoming David Shemer and his ensemble with a barrage of clapping, shouts and whistles. Prof. Shemer, JBO founder and music director, welcomed the audience to the event. Jerusalem mayor Moshe Lion spoke briefly, expressing his praise for the orchestra and mentioning plans the Jerusalem Municipality has for permanent home quarters for the ensemble.

 

For “Back to Bach”, the ensemble consisting of bowed instruments, harpsichord and theorbo, Johann Sebastian shared the stage with Arcangelo Corelli. Bach had studied Corelli's music, making his own arrangements of it. He also had access to Corelli's music at the Leipzig library, from which he conducted performances. As far as we know, Corelli did not write vocal music; the closest connection he would make with the genre might possibly have been the Sinfonia he wrote to “Santa Beatrice d’Este” an oratorio composed by Giovanni Lorenzo Lulier (c.1662-1700), who was a colleague of Corelli. The oratorio premiered in 1689 at the palace of Cardinal Benedetto Pamphili, who had written the libretto. Directed by David Shemer, the JBO concert opened with this seldom-performed piece. Soloists were Noam Schuss-violin 1, Lilia Slavny-violin 2 and ‘cellist Orit Messer-Jacobi. Plumbing the depths of the splendid D minor work, the players presented its tragic, searching dissonances, its noble character and buoyant dance associations with subtlety, elegance and balance. The same three artists made up the concertino for Corelli’s Concerto Grosso Op. 6 No.4, another work in the da chiesa form, this,  however, in D major. From the short majestic, festive introduction, the players kept audience members captivated following the work’s changes of mood and emotion, as well as some exciting virtuosic exchange between Schuss and Slavny. 

 

In its 32 years of existence, the JBO has performed many of J.S.Bach’s larger and smaller sacred vocal works. In this program, however, the audience was presented with two of Bach’s secular vocal works, the first being Cantata BWV 209 “Non sa che sia dolore” (One knows not what sorrow is), one of the only two cantatas the composer had written to Italian texts. Although its date, purpose, the text author or even the identity of the dear friend departing on the sea journey described remain unclear (some have even questioned whether Bach was the composer), what is certain is that, from the very first notes of the fetching da capo instrumental Sinfonia, one realizes that this work is indeed a jewel. Written for solo soprano (Daniela Skorka) with orchestral accompaniment, it strongly features obbligato flute (Idit Shemer, traverso), giving ample opportunity for both vocal- and instrumental soloists to shine. From the Sinfonia (could it be a movement from a lost flute concerto?) Idit Shemer creates a mood which balances serenity with slight sadness, taking the listener through three of the cantata’s five movements with suave, expressive playing and technical mastery. Skorka’s fresh, natural, unforced singing addresses the text, its nuances and its moods, her clarity of diction and precise phrasing adding to the warmth, depth and uplifting spirit of the music.

 

If the year of Covid-19 anxiety has left JBO audiences in need of a morale boost and a good chuckle, J.S.Bach’s Coffee Cantata “Schweigt stille, plaudert nicht” (Be quiet, chatter not) BWV 211 (libretto: Picander) absolutely filled the bill. With coffee having become the fashionable drink in European cities at Bach's time (apparently, Bach himself was a coffee enthusiast) this cantata, written around 1735, was performed by the Collegium Musicum at Zimmerman’s coffee house, a local social centre for gentlemen in Leipzig. Essentially a miniature comic opera, it tells of Lieschen (Daniela Skorka), a young vivacious woman, who is addicted to coffee, and her disgruntled father Schlendrian (literally: Stick in the Mud), played by baritone Yair Polishook, who threatens- and argues with his caffeine-obsessed daughter about her habit.  Schlendrian unsuccessfully tries to bribe her into renouncing caffeine in favour of settling down with a husband, while Lieschen evades his commandments with clever manoeuvres and outright disobedience. The smaller role of the narrator was played heartily by young tenor Itamar Hildesheim. Idit Shemer played the obbligato flute role. The only props on the YMCA stage were an antique chair and a table with a coffee pot, cups and coffee grinder. Moving around the entire stage, Skorka (now dressed casually in the style of today’s teenage girls, cell ‘phone in hand) and Polishook delivered free, impressive and animated characterizations of daughter and father, engaging in the text’s banter in keeping with the often-humorous burlesque nature of the style. Their combination of polished vocal performance and mirthful tomfoolery made for rewarding theatrical performance. Signing out with the wink of an eye, the three vocalists sent the audience home with a smile and a few home truths, as expressed in the rollicking terzetto:

'The cat does not leave the mouse.

Young ladies remain coffee addicts.

The mother loves her cup of coffee.

The grandmother also drank it.

Who can blame the daughters?'

Itamar Hildesheim,Daniela Skorka,Yair Polishook (Maya Sapiro-Taien)